"Shocking" performance

In its latest performance, the 1.8m tall, 150kg humanoid robot Atlas demonstrated its remarkable abilities as it was able to crawl, run, roll, perform a roll jump and even complete a complete somersault.

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Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot can crawl, run, roll, perform a roll jump, and even do a full somersault. Photo: Techradar

The sequence of moves was so shocking that viewers wondered if the video had been sped up to make it look smoother. However, a Boston Dynamics representative confirmed that the video was shot at normal speed.

This demonstration shows that the humanoid robot industry is at a crucial turning point.

The previous hydraulic Atlas could do somersaults and parkour, but it didn’t really look human. The electric Atlas is different—its body structure is much more human-like. While the head doesn’t have a real face, it’s still clearly a head, with almost perfect proportions, despite its 150kg weight.

Video source: Boston Dynamics

In other words, Atlas is increasingly looking like C-3PO – the famous humanoid robot character in the Star Wars series.

Currently, many companies are participating in the race to develop humanoid robots, including Tesla (Optimus), Figure AI (Figure 01), x1 (Neo Gama), and Unitree (Unitree G1). With the exception of the G1, most of these robots are not really convincing in terms of mobility. Their movements are still disjointed, jerky, and have pauses between actions, whereas humans perform movements seamlessly.

Atlas is making a distinct difference thanks to Boston Dynamics' decades of robotics experience, along with support from Nvidia's powerful processing chips and platform models.

However, Unitree – a robotics company from China – is also a formidable competitor. Unitree's G1 is highly appreciated for its balance between price and performance, suitable for the mid-range segment, although it still does not reach the perfection of Atlas or the practicality of Figure 02.

Meanwhile, Tesla is focusing on developing low-cost humanoid robots for manufacturing and home use. Optimus Gen-2, due in 2023, can walk, grasp, and perform simple tasks, with a target of mass production in 2025-2026. Figure AI emphasizes flexible mobility, with a 16-joint hand for precise loading and unloading of components and high practical applications.

Humanoid robots are gradually moving from the demonstration stage to practical applications in industrial (automobile manufacturing, warehousing), medical (elderly care) and domestic (household assistance) fields. The integration of AI, especially reinforcement learning and large language models, enables robots to not only execute commands but also learn and adapt to their environments.

Boston Dynamics was one of the first companies to adopt Nvidia’s Project GROOT, and has now expanded the collaboration to include multiple technology platforms from the world’s leading chipmaker, including Jetson Thor, a powerful computing platform, and Isaac Lab, a robotics learning framework.

Isaac Lab combines Nvidia Isaac Sim and Omniverse simulation technology to power Atlas, Boston Dynamics’ all-electric humanoid robot. Jetson Thor, meanwhile, works with Atlas’s motion and manipulation controllers, leveraging multimodal AI. Isaac Lab allows Atlas to learn in virtual environments before putting them into practice, helping the robot better adapt to unforeseen conditions and improve safety when working with humans.

At the GTC 2025 developer conference, Nvidia introduced a series of next-generation hardware and software, notably the Isaac GR00T N1 – the world's first open-source model that allows flexible customization to accelerate the development of multi-purpose humanoid robots. Robotics companies that have early access to the GR00T N1 include Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Mentee Robotics, and NEURA Robotics.

(According to Techradar, Wired)

China dominates the humanoid robot industry According to Morgan Stanley bank, China leads the West in the number of listed companies involved in the development of humanoid robots.